High Street in Walthamstow is a very interesting place for an atheist. One can not navigate the largest outdoor market in Europe without coming face to face with the question of religion every few steps.
At the nominated start of the market (where High Street and Hoe Street intersect) you are greeted by the Christians. They have a pretty good setup. With the recent heatwave, its pretty smart to set out a table full of free cups of water. As you stride up to the table to collect your cup of water, you hear the soft singing, folksy sound of a man with an average singing voice and minimal guitar skills, spouting off about Jesus. Its pleasant enough and even has a hippy sort of feel to it until the next phase.
In the midst of the sing song and the refreshing feeling of your free cup of water, you are greeted by a very well meaning but somewhat deluded individual who wants to "share the good news". The good news is that 2000 + years ago lived a man who wasn't a conventional man but born of a virgin as the son of "God" and when he proclaimed his being to his own people, they kind of fed him to the dogs and the Romans nailed him to a cross to pay for all the evil deeds you have done or will ever do. Because he was not a conventional man and was the great redeemer, he did not actually die after his nailing. No, this Jesus fellow was brought back from the dead and now lives somewhere far north. He loves you and was happy to be a crucified so that you can score with your best friends wife and still get into heaven if you say you are sorry.
The Christians get 5 stars for PR. You are gagging for something to drink in 90 degree heat and don't feel like parting with a stupid sum of money to drink French water from a company whose name spelled backwards is naive. Kind individuals will usually stay and hear a bit of the propaganda in payment for their water. Me being me, I did not. I handed the leaflet entitled "Somebody Loves You" right back to the man who handed it to me and said "No thanks, religion is poison".
Moving toward the center of the high street, you are greeted by the Muslims. They wear the typical muslim dress and are also handing out literature to the masses that have the misfortune to walk close enough to them to be within reaching distance. There is no message of love in this literature which I actually accepted as I was interested to see what the writing was on a glossy picture of the heads of state from Israel, Great Britain, and the United States. Their images were plastered on top and below them were the burnt, maimed, and tortured bodies of Muslims.
It was actually an invitation to a State Terrorism Conference. You can get all the juicy details here http://thereflectproject.com/. There were three of them standing outside the mall. One was handing out leaflets, one stood silently beside and the third was shouting out to come learn the truth of what the United States and the United Kingdom were doing. I made it known that I was American. I was told "Good, you can learn what your country is really doing". The general line in all of this is that the real terrorists are the USA and the UK and that the innocent victims are Muslims. The West simply wants to undermine Islam. Its nothing to do with the fact that in the name of Allah, some Muslims sanction terrorism and the killing of innocents. If we are going to be fair here, one must admit that the USA and the UK have a great deal to answer for in the way of illegal wars, faulty prosecutions, holding people without trial and representation and a host of other things. I had to excuse myself when I explained that they had some valid points however their ultimate belief in an entity that is no more real than the Tooth Fairy kinda negates everything else they are saying. As you can well imagine, this was not welcome commentary and as you can probably imagine equally as well, I could care less if my truth offends their truth.
If you move a little further down the high street and very much to my utter amazement, you have the Nation of Islam camp. I was a bit taken aback. These folks are so whacked out that their own fellow Muslims flat out reject them and their doctrine as false and almost laughable.
These are the folks that sanction a homeland being given to black Americans and that the United States should support this new, all-black, religiously dominated new nation for the first years of it's existence. I did not chat with these folks for long. I bought a copy of "The Final Call" which is their newspaper. I did mention that I thought they were a bit dodgy as even the Muslims up the road a little ways thought they were completely insane. The reply was "they just dont know the truth sister". I replied with the surety that we were not blood related and could not be spiritually related as what they call God is no more real to me than unicorns and gnomes.
I have now mentioned 3 different religions operating on my local high street who want to win my soul for Jesus, God, or Allah. But lets end on a positive note. There is a religious sect that I actually like. Well, I suppose that I use the term like rather loosely. There is a religious sect I do not mind encountering. The winner is.................... the orthodox Jews. There is a huge community of Orthodox Jews in North London. You can spot them a mile away (especially the men) but that is as far as it goes. They don't try to save you. They don't try to tell you their version of divinity. No, they just do their shopping and go home and whatever doctrine they adhere to remains with them. There are no conversion drives and from what I am told, you are either born into this community or you aren't a part of it. That is my kind of religion. Well, lets be fair, any religion is not my kind of religion but I certainly don't mind having these folks as neighbors.
Now, before anyone gets all bent out of shape over freedom of religion, let me say that I support anyone's right to believe whatever they want. That includes far flung ancient fairy stories that oppress and cause conflict. I firmly believe in and support freedom of religion for all people. Unfortunately all people do not respect my freedom from religion. When I go to do my shopping in the town where I live, I should not have to dodge a handful of religious bullets on my way to where I am going. I know there is no end in sight. These religions carry on partly through these recruitment drives.
I am an atheist. But I do not approach people and beg them to see sense and discard their traditions and beliefs. The great thing about atheism is that I do not believe that converting anyone to my way of thinking is going to score me any points with a non existent god. My opposition to organized religion only surfaces when I am approached. Wouldn't our world be a better place if we worried not about heaven and hell and what happens when we die and instead focused our energies on the life that we have been given. Should we not just attempt to be the best people that we can be and let what is best for humanity be our guide instead of adhering to ancient texts full of contradictions and riddled with ways to divide humanity.
That is what I think after giving some thought to my new home's High street.
